| Ah, what is it about them? Welcoming, vibrant and packed full of knowledge. Perfect for finding out about things you didn’t know you needed to know. Starting with our October line-up. |
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The largest exhibition of its kind ever held here
Experience the feeling of stepping into a monastic library in our Buddhism exhibition, opening 25 October. Pore over colourful scrolls and examine beautiful illuminated books spanning 2,000 years and 20 countries. You’ll also come closer to sacred texts on unexpected materials from tree bark to palm leaves and gold plates. |
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Keeping knowledge alive
Currently including over 20 public libraries, the Living Knowledge Network is sharing ideas and sparking connections between libraries, their collections and their people and is the only network of its kind in the UK. |
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| Back in March, authors Philip Pullman, Salley Vickers and Jacqueline Wilson joined us to discuss why libraries are important to them. Why do we love libraries? We’ve picked our top ten (we know there are more!) reasons. |
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| In the digital age we are living in, people love sharing snapshots of their stylish bookcases and impressive book collections but, this is nothing new. Shelfies have been around for a lot longer than you may think… |
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| How ancient libraries worked |
| Do you ever wonder how books were stored and accessed in the ancient world? Fragments of ancient books at the British Library provide some clues on how Greek literature was written down, read, and transmitted, from individual books to large libraries like the famous library at Alexandria. |
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| 400 projects, 90 countries, 100 languages |
| Since 2004, the Endangered Archives Programme has digitised over seven million images and 25,000 soundtracks. Dive into our online collection. Here you will find a wealth of material covering a huge range of subject matter from all over the world. |
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The soul needs books
Libraries can be places of creative and intellectual sanctuary, refuge, hope and companionship. Our latest podcast visits the British Library’s Reading Rooms, a hidden library in Syria and people in Swansea forming connections through reading. |
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A crash course in our history
From 3,000-year-old Chinese oracle bones to today’s newspapers, our collection spans every age of written culture, and has been consulted by famous Readers such as Charles Dickens, Karl Marx, George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf. But as a national library, we might be younger than we seem. |
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Start-up Day
Free to join, open to everyone. Looking to start a business? Visit us for a day of talks, expert workshops and tailored advice designed to get your business idea off to a flying start. |
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